Product Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. After marrying Will Deal and moving to Nebraska, Abbie endures the difficulties of frontier life and raises her children to pursue the ambitions that were once her own. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (46)

A Lantern in Her Hand
This book was recommended to me by a friend who considers it her most favorite of all time.I agree with her and have ordered other books by the Bess Streeter Aldrich.The author has the knack of making the past seem so relevant to the present day experience while maintaining a most entertaining and historically accurate story.

my favorite book
This book is great for all ages.each time i read it it see it from a different perspective - first as a young woman, then a married woman, then a young mom, now a mom in the midst of having teens, and each time i come to appreciate it more.

looking back, reading this book influenced the kind of mother i was.it is an easy read, and interesting.

historical, based on real pioneers, a good story.

an excellent book.i would recommend it to anyone.in fact i just bought several copies to give away.

Very Good Purchase
I have had very good luck purchasing books through Amazon, and this is no exception.The book is in excellent condition for used and has a mylar cover that has kept it nice.I chose this title because of a movie I saw on television, based on this story.I have quite a library of aged copyright books and always look for hard cover.They are usually within my price range at Amazon.I am looking forward to reading it.

One of my most loved books
I read this book when I was 12 or 13, perhaps younger.I loved this story so much I'm sure I read it a dozen times or more as a kid.And it was so memorable that I've never forgotten it.No longer having my original copy, I ordered it again recently from Amazon so I could re-read it.I was surprised at the negative reviews, but can only conclude that if you read this for the first time as an adult, perhaps the magic isn't quite the same.I think it's sad that someone can't appreciate this story, butI think it was well enough written, and the magic was in the detail and the story.I'm not sure if kids today would appreciate the story line, but in 1960 when I first read it, it obviously made quite an impression on me.I gave the book to my daughter when she was 12 or so, and she loved it as much as I did and has also remembered the story vividly now that she's an adult.I'd still recommend it for young girls in particular, perhaps in the age range of 9 to 13 or so.

A Lantern in Her Hand
For all Mothers that are devoted to their children, as my mother was. Bess Steeter Aldrich has a way with describing things that makes one relive all of the experiences of settling the West.I love all of her books snd wish she had written more. ... Read more

Product Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Moving to their new home on the prairie, Zoe sees that her mother is unhappy with their desolate lifestyle. But while on a ride to the nearby town, Zoe sees something special that may make her mother happy once again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A Beautiful Story of Courageous Hope
Zoe, traveling with her family to Nebraska, knows her mother has doubts about moving to an unsettled territory, but her father is unable to provide for them back in Illinois where they lived with her grandparents.When they arrive at their staked-out territory and commence to digging a well and building their sod house, Mama's doubts continue to weigh on her and she pines for her old home.On Mama's birthday Papa takes Zoe to town for supplies and a small gift.As they leave the town, Zoe spies a clump of dandelions to be her gift.They carefully transplant them to the sod roof, but when morning comes the flowers are wilted and sad.Zoe pleads, "They'll bloom, Mama -- they're strong, just like us."Mama is quiet, and Zoe knows that somehow the conversation is about more than the flowers.Mama tells her she must be patient, it's hard for flowers to be transplanted, and the story ends with a visual scene of a little sod house on an open prairie, roof covered in yellow blooms.

This beautiful story captures the courage of Americans who risked everything to settle in unknown lands.It features a strong female protagonist who supports her father's leadership and shows genuine love toward her mother and sister.In a book of this length much is necessarily left out -- you will have to read On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House) or Sod Houses on the Great Plains to learn how a soddie is built -- but Bunting's spare text gives just enough detail to evoke the feelings these settlers must have experienced, leaving the reader with the desire to learn more about this piece of American history.

The complex emotional themes of hope, loneliness and fear, with the symbolism of transplanted flowers to stand for Mama's loneliness, may require explanation for younger readers.This book is probably best suited for ages 5-8.

Not just any book but a piece of great literature
On its face, this is a wonderful story of a pioneer family that moves to Nebraska to claim vacant land that is being given away for free.But it is so much more than a quaint story, as the author adeptly paints for the reader a picture of who each character is, how they feel about the move, and the subtleties of how they interact with each other.The transplanted dandelions are a beautiful symbol of the difficulties of moving to a strange place and starting anew.And all is done through the eyes of one of the children.

A word of caution, though.Because of the subtleties and nuances of language in the book, I would not recommend the book for young children.Without an understanding of what is suggested and not expressly written, only the basic story can be grasped, which by itself would be a bit boring and would struggle to maintain a young child's attention.

dandy dandylions
Dandelions is one of the best books I have ever read. It tells about the historic events about everybody moving to the Great Plains. It shows the hardships the people back then had to go through. I was a very true book.

I also liked the characters, too.They had cool talents and were funny like when Rebecca said, "We really dug a hole to China?", the author made me feel sad for them. He explains the characters well, too. It is one of the best books I have ever read because of how good the author writes this book.

Tucker DME

Dandelions Rule! :]
My favorite book buddy book is called "Dandelions".I like it because alot because it really makes me realise what i have.It's very touching story to read.I realise that how much I really have! I need to be greacous,I need to spend more time with my family,too.
It teaches me I need to work and play less.I don't need to ask for everything I see.Now I realize how much I have and that I need to love my family more and more,also appreciate them.This book is great.I love this book.
By:Gracen Kerr

the dandelions of adventure
How you ever felt good of what you have accomplished? Well I have!The book Dandelions was very touching to me because people like me at my age should be thanking God because we don't have to move around and build sodies.It's sad because they had to dig a hole to get some water in a little water bucket.It is a lot of hard work to dig up a hole and get some water every day.Their house was made out of mud and water, sometimes snakes would come out of the walls!

It would be awesome to meet the people in the book if they were real.It would also be awesome if wagons were still here in modern time.If you sell it to someone who likes old history wagons,they would be interested.I think the book was inspiring to me because it would want to make me a better person. Papa said'Mama and I have to talk things over with you'.When I read that it made me want to read it again. It was very interesting.

Ruth
DME ... Read more

Product Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in 19th-century Nebraska, and his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

a different twist on an orphan story
Nathaniel Peale's life is turned upside down when his leg is crushed in an accident;he feels useless now that he is unable to help out on the family's Nebraska farm.When his father takes in an orphan named Worth from the famous "Orphan train" to help out with the farm work, neither Nathaniel nor his mother is happy about the situation.However, over time, the two boys learn to respect and even like each other and work together to help solve a local battle between farmers and ranchers.
Although this book is short, it is succinct and the characterizations are well-rounded.There are so many stories about orphans out there; this one is really different by telling the tale from the point of view of a child in the family where the orphan comes to live.It is a very moving story about both boys coming to terms with a great deal of loss in their own ways.

Finding Worth
John Worth is an Orphan Train child, the sole survivor of the fire which killed his family.Nate Peale is a child of the prairie; his family struggles to homestead on the Nebraska plains. Neither boy has the ideal life; the question the book obviously asks is how will each find worth, value in the difficulties each has been handed.It is a deep study, this developing sense of worth, and the book handles it from the viewpoint of Nate, in a straightforward, no-nonsense, abrupt manner reflective of the rather harsh plains setting. I have met these people, having grown up in the High Plains myself, and the harsh view of life during the period is as real as the colorful country figures of speech.LaFaye creates country diction wonderfully and creates a great heroine in Mary Eve, Nate's mother, who at first refuses to love the orphan, John Worth out of a sense of loyalty to her own son and is, herself, an enterprising tinker. Gabriel, Nate's pa, struggles with his guilt over Nate's injury and faces down overwhelming odds to produce enough to keep his farm. One wishes that the issues of love, loyalty, women's roles were all exploredmore deeply rather than leaning on the fence-cutting dilemma and the long-lasting feud between ranchers and farmers to carry the story.But this is a children's book, and a good one. It is reminiscent of Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust which also reveals the endurance which High Plains life demands.For an outdoor drama featuring the rancher-farmer feud, see Texas, a play in Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Texas.The Peale's could be featured as strong farmers in that musical.

3rd Grade Reading Group, Newport Oregon Elementary School
A compilation of various students:



I really liked the book.It is kind of sad in the beginning. I loved this book...it got sadder and sadder but it had a very good ending. The book is `actiony', funny and it makes you want to read it over and over.Worth is the most dramatic action filled, dark gory story I ever read. It lost my 5th star because it has blood and pain, there is a lot of drama. If you don't like blood don't read this. I like the Greek myth stuff. The only thing I didn't like was it didn't have enough Greek myth stuff. My favorite character was Anemone.

Worth was a okay book
The book Worth is about a poor farming family trying to survive in Nebraska.After Nate crushed his leg in a farming accident, he was unable to help out around the farm. His father went to the orphan train, which was a train that brought homeless children from the East to find new homes, to get a boy to help with the farm work that Nate could no longer do. The boy's name was John Worth. Nate's father's actions hurt his feelings because he felt like he was being replaced by John.He became very jealous of John.John grew up in New York City, so he was not used to farm work.His entire family died in a fire, so like Nate, he had his own problems to deal with.The story follows the relationship between the two boys.The ongoing battle between the ranchers and the farmers connect the two boys as they try to save the farms in the area.

In my opinion the book was not great because it was not a happy story. I didn't like the fact that there was a lot of talk of death in it. John was always talking about how his family died in a fire, and Nate was always talking about how his little sister, Missy, choked on some bread. I also didn't like the fact that the book didn't use proper English. It was written in an uneducated, rural Nebraska manner, so it was hard to read and understand at times. In one sentence Nate says "Didn't do me no good" when he was describing how he was trying to keep up with the pain he was feeling.

At the end, the book started getting better. Nate and John were stopping the fence cutters, who were people who cut fences to let the cattle out.They went to help Widow Kerensky, a customer of John's parents', by chasing away the fence cutters. Widow Kerensky pulled a gun on John thinking he was a fence cutter, but then took the gun away when she saw Nate because she knew him.I liked this part because it was filled with action and I felt like I was hiding in the grass there, watching them.


The book Worth was not one of my favorite books. I would not want to read the book again, but I would recommend it to anyone looking for a historical fiction book. Although I learned a lot about the hardships of living on a farm, it did not have enough action to hold my attention.All in all I didn't really like the book.

A Storm
The main character of the book Worthis named Nathaniel.
First, Nathaniel is a hard working boy especially when he brings the hay in to the barn. Second, he is boy that can take pain. A storm hit their farm and he was on a tractor thing and fell off and hurt his leg. Third, Nathaniel is one of those boys that are nice on the outside but sometimes mean on the inside. He doesn't like people that take away his dad. Fourth, Nathaniel is always helping his mom. He puts things that were broken back together that broke. Does that character relate to you?
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Product Description
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Creepy Crawlers . . .

Johnathan Rands' American Chillers book, Nebraska Nightcrawlers, has captured the undivided attention of our seven year old son. He loves these mysteries. This one, with the creepy nightcrawlers, has him wondering if, just maybe, he should collect and sell some nightcrawlers as a way to make money to buy more Johnathan Rand books!

nebraska Night Crawlers
Fellow readers, the book Nebraska Night Crawlers written by Johnathan Rand is full of adventures and exciting events. The suspense was outrageous you never knew what was going to happen.The mood is quite good it is rainy, and night time so it is dark.
I couldn't stop reading it because it was full of chilling events.The night crawlers were quite scary they loved to make ruckus in the neighborhood.That is how I liked the book Nebraska Night Crawlers.
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Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more